Causes of Foundation Damage

by | Jan 31, 2013 | Construction and Maintenance

One of the hardest concepts for people to understand is that something small can destroy something big; a small constant pressure can destroy something grand. This conceptual difficulty underlies much of the basis for conspiracy theories. It’s not just postulations about the “true causes” of national disasters but also happens when people need things like foundation repair. It’s tempting to believe that the person installing the foundation must have messed up, or there was some sort of seismic activity. Though if you live in a city like Dallas, Texas, you should appreciate how rare seismic activity is for you. Instead you may need foundation repair because the damage was caused by something small but constant. Most foundation damage is caused by moisture and/or pressure.

For this to happen, the ground doesn’t have to be flooded with excessive amounts of water, and it doesn’t mean that your house was built on wetlands. When constructing a foundation, professionals will attempt to wait for normal soil conditions, not build it during a drought or the day after a big rain storm. Even with a normal weather scenario, however, there are conditions within the soil that will accelerate the need for foundation repair. To most of us dirt is dirt, and if we pay attention, sand is something different. In reality there are different kinds of dirt that react differently to moisture changes. For example, clay and dirt react differently to water; clay swells and contracts much more with moisture than regular dirt does. This means that when moisture levels in the ground change it creates spots of extremely high or low pressure.

Lack of pressure can actually cause damage. It might seem that only having the ground pressing abnormally hard against the wall would be a problem, but if the wall doesn’t have the support from the dirt around it, that too can create a problem. These areas of low pressure create bows and cracks in the foundation that can lead to interruptions of service for basic utilities and structural damage to the house or building on top of it. When these massive problems arise, it would suggest that there was some massive force at work or some sort of colossal mess up, when the only thing at work is differences in soil composition. Sometimes something small can cause the need for massive foundation repair. There is an advantage to having small causes to big problems; small causes are more common by their nature. This means in Texas as a whole, not just Dallas more people are around to offer foundation repair services, even smaller towns and cities.

Foundation Repair Dallas Texas – If you’re looking for foundation repair in Dallas, Texas or the Dallas area, you should look into Accurate Foundation repair, a company servicing the Dallas, Arlington and Plano area. They’re a company dedicated to top notch service and consumer satisfaction. They can be found online at or reached via telephone at 817-561-9339.

Latest Articles

Categories

Archives